A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system directs an incident light beam at a target and detects a reflected light beam. The distance to the target may be calculated based on a time of flight measurement of the incident light beam and the reflected light beam. Similarly, an infrared (IR) camera system directs an IR light beam at a target and detects a reflected IR light beam. The IR camera system may generate an image based on the reflected IR light beam.
Current LIDAR systems and IR camera systems have limited ranges due to scattering of incident light beams and reflected light beams within target areas and due to unknowns regarding target materials. For example, a target area may have a scattering coefficient of 3% to 10% with scattering angles of up to 4 pi steradians thereby significantly reducing the amount of light reflected back to the LIDAR system or IR camera system by a factor of the distance squared. Further, only a small portion of the incident light beams may be reflected back to the LIDAR systems or IR cameras because targets are often made of unknown materials that are not designed to reflect light.
Because of these effects, the amount of reflected light received by a LIDAR system or IR camera system decreases as the flight time of the light increases. Thus, an amount of time during which a LIDAR searches for the reflected light beam may be limited because the longer the LIDAR searches, the weaker the reflected light becomes, and the more likely it becomes that a stray light beam will be confused with a reflected light beam. Thus, current LIDAR systems and IR camera systems become more subject to interference from stray light beams as a distance to a target increases. Other limitations of current LIDAR systems and current IR camera systems may be known to persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.